Pakistani women’s rights group wins French prize for conflict prevention

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Aware Girls, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that advocates for women’s rights in Pakistan, was awarded a prize for conflict prevention on Thursday by the Jacques Chirac foundation.

The NGO has fought for women’s rights and equal access to education, health and other services since 2002, in direct opposition to Pakistan’s conservative social values and religious traditions.

Their activism, however, has not been without risk.

“You try to change the system and those who are beneficiaries of the old system try to resist and want to hurt you. They do propaganda against you so to suppress you. They scare you so much that you go silent," Gulalai Ismail, founder of Aware Girls, told FRANCE 24.